


I would trust her with my life.

by Ljparis



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Missing Scene, Rogue One Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-21
Updated: 2017-03-21
Packaged: 2018-10-08 15:57:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,286
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10390404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ljparis/pseuds/Ljparis
Summary: The missing scene fromRogue One, where Bail Organa asks his daughter to take on a very important task for the Rebellion.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this](https://mx-delta-juliette.tumblr.com/post/154794008056/moghedien-moghedien-ok-so-leia-was-heading) tumblr post. I read that, had so many feelings, and couldn't get this missing scene out of my head.

Bail Organa: "I must return to Alderaan and inform my people there will be no peace. We will need every advantage."  
Mon Mothma: "Your friend - the Jedi -"  
Bail Organa: "He served me well during the Clone Wars. He's lived in hiding since the Emperor's purge. Yes, I will send for him."  
Mon Mothma: "You will need someone you can trust."  
Bail Organa: "I would trust her with my life."

\- _Rogue One: A Jedi Story_

Upon returning to Alderaan, Bail found his daughter, not in her office as his wife had surmised, but rather out on the patio overlooking a crystal clear lake on a chaise lounge chair, her knees tucked up to her chest and a stack of datapads discarded on the small glass table beside her. It was one of Leia's retreats, he knew, when she needed to clear her mind. 

Her back was to the door, so Bail couldn't be sure if she heard him coming - Leia sometimes anticipated things, Bail knew, though they never spoke of it and she didn't draw attention to it - so he stood in the open air doorway and regarded her for a moment.

She worked so hard. He could see the tension in her back, in her neck, even as she sat there staring out at the water. He figured she would have preferred to be out on the lake, tucked down against the bottom of a boat, rather than looking at the water, but her work ethic prevented her from forgoing all pretense of working.

She took so much work on herself. The diplomacy of their planet. Responsibilities leftover from before the Galactic Senate was dissolved. Her continued insistence that he finally allow her to officially join with the Rebellion, play a larger role other than being eyes and ears in the Senate. He recalled a recent conversation he'd had with his wife where Breha had worried over Leia's involvement at so young an age. If Bail had had his way, Leia would have been involved a decade ago. But with deference to her mother, he had waited until Leia came to him about it. Then he couldn't say no to her; he never could.

The air was warm that day, just a few standard weeks away from a change in the seasons. A breeze hung in the air; Leia's lightweight cloak billowed around her body. She turned her head, her chin down just slightly, and Bail knew he had been noticed. Or, perhaps, he thought, sensed.

He cleared his throat as he crossed to her.

She turned and her face broke out into a wide smile, her dark eyes wide. "Papa," she said, swinging her legs off the side of the lounge to get up and greet him. It was rare to hear Leia use her childhood name for her father, and it warmed his heart. Especially in light of what he was about to ask her to do.

"Lelila," he greeted, pulling her into a tight hug. She tucked her head under his chin and he kissed the top of her head, in a spot between her braids. "Your mother said I'd find you working, and yet here you are staring off into the lake again," he teased.

She stepped back and pursed her lips. Bail noticed that she barely even blushed. "Mother asked me to begin seating charts for the Empire Day royal dinner," she said, "and I was merely contemplating whether we ought to chance putting House Antilles at the same table as House Cortess even though there was recently that scandal with -"

Bail held up a hand and watched the corner of his daughter's mouth begin to uptick into a grin. "I'd prefer it if you were simply upfront with your mother about not wanting to event plan," he said in a tone that he hoped was stern (even though his daughter was now nineteen years old, a young woman) but more than likely came out as teasing. "Rather than sabotaging an Empire Day feast."

Now the grin grew. "What better event to sabotage than Empire Day?"

His hands came down on her shoulders and he smiled down at her. His daughter had stood toe to toe with Darth Vader, with the Emperor even, and emerged unscathed. She had stood and addressed the Senate floor with unabashed confidence, airing out any opinion, no matter how counter, how strong, it was. She stood her ground. But - Bail let the thought whisper at the back of his mind - she didn't know when to quit. No matter how many times he warned her, no matter how much her mother had worried - vocally - about it - Leia didn't back down. That was one of many reasons why Bail trusted her, _completely_ , with this task.

"Leia," he said after a moment, his tone turning serious enough that she inclined her chin and looked at him worriedly. Already, worry lines creased her forehead and, not for the first time, Bail wished he could have given her a quieter childhood. At the same time, he knew that she wouldn't have thrived the way she had had she been raised to be quiet and biddable. "I need your help," he said, meeting her eyes. "The Rebellion needs your help."

Her eyes widened but she waited, on the edge of impatience, for him to continue.

"There's a Jedi - Obi-Wan Kenobi - he served with me during the Clone Wars -"

She nodded, had grown up listening to the few stories of the Jedi, of her father's service during the Clone Wars, that he was willing to share. They were few and far between, the same half dozen stories, never long enough for Leia's liking (she always begged him for more, each night at bedtime, but Bail never relented). It hadn't occurred to her that Obi-Wan Kenobi might still be alive. That any Jedi might still be alive.

"He's been in hiding since the Emperor ordered the Jedi purge, but we need him now. We need you -" Bail paused, and Leia began to shake her head; she wasn't needed, she understood, but a Jedi! " _I_ need you," he continued, changing tactics. It wasn't his place to reveal everything, not yet, though it pained him to keep such important information from his daughter. "- to go to Tatooine and find Kenobi. I need you to bring him to the Rebellion. It's time."

Leia swallowed and nodded. "What do I need to know to convince him to come with me?" 

Not, how will she convince him.

Not, will I be able to convince him.

Not, why me. 

Just, what do I need.

Bail cupped her cheek and gazed at his daughter for a long moment, almost too long. She had her mother's eyes. He considered for a moment her drive, her determination, the speeches she gave to the Senate. Her name, given to her in the moments before her mother's death. There was no doubt in his mind that Obi-Wan wouldn't need any convincing other than the young woman in front of him.

He shook his head. "Nothing," he said, knowing it was vague, confusing, but he didn't elaborate. "You will be able to convince him simply by being yourself." Bail pressed a kiss to his daughter's forehead and pulled her back into his arms, holding her as though it might be the last time.

Leia nodded. "I'll leave today," she said, without any arguments, with a firmness in her voice that Bail had come to know and love. Her cheek pressed against his chest. "I won't let you down, Papa," she said softly.

He pressed his fingers into her hair and breathed in deeply. "I know you won't, Lelila," Bail said. "You could never let me down."


End file.
